A poet is limited in the materials he can use in creating his works: all he has are words to express his
ideas and feelings. These words need to be precisely right on several levels at once. They must sound
right to the listener even as they delight his ear. They must have a meaning which might have been
unanticipated, but seems to be the perfectly right one. They must be arranged in a relationship and
placed on the page in ways that are at once easy to follow and assist the reader in understanding. They
must probe the depths of human thought, emotion, and empathy, while appearing simple, self-contained,
and unpretentious.